When Joseph Milo, an out-of-work conductor and pianist in Montreal, learned that his building’s doorman was an out-of-work cellist, and that his pizza was delivered by an out-of-work bassoonist, he had an inspired idea. Montreal is full of immigrant musicians who have knocked at the doors of the gold-plated and respectable institutions, and gotten nowhere. Are they down-and-out because they are poor musicians? Or just because our society is too dumb to employ their talents? The evidence of my ears points to the latter. Now the Montreal Musicians of the World Symphony Orchestra plays in the basement of Côte St-Luc municipal building. It’s not the Montreal Symphony’s hundred-million-dollar venue, but the music is good, and the blue-collar, blue-jeans audience gets a good show. Surprise, surprise! — if good music is played at a logical price in an atmosphere that isn’t rancid with pomposity, people flock to hear it.
Another small victory in the endless war we must fight against the sclerotic forces of Respectability.
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